


Unforgiven

by talefeathers



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Killing Joke (Comics), DCU
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Drabble, Gen, Hospitals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-23 00:09:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17672681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talefeathers/pseuds/talefeathers
Summary: Bruce goes to visit Barbara in the hospital; Dick is having absolutely none of it.





	Unforgiven

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: So the prompt was actually "Don't touch me!" which did not end up making its way into the final product, haha. Enjoy anyway!

They’re both asleep when Bruce enters the room: Barbara in her hospital bed, her face pale and sunken beneath her respirator, and Dick slumped in a chair to her right, his fingers curled loosely into hers. Bruce’s throat tightens painfully.

He shouldn’t be here.

He turns, but he hasn’t yet crossed back through the door when Dick inhales sharply.

“I’m up,” the younger man mumbles, dragging his free hand across his face, through his hair.

Bruce hesitates.

“You should rest,” he says.

Dick’s whole body goes rigid.

“Get out,” Dick says, quietly.

“I only wanted –”

“Don’t make fucking excuses,” Dick continues, still without raising his voice. “Just get out of this room.”

“Dick –”

Dick is on his feet with the speed and silence of a cat, and when he rams Bruce bodily through the doorway and into the hall it is only partially because Bruce lets him.

Only when the door to Barbara’s room clicks shut behind him does Dick allow his voice to rise.

“You laughed,” he snarls. “You stood with the man who did this to her and you laughed. Right?”

“Dick –”

“ _Right?_ ”

Bruce says nothing. Can bring himself to say nothing.

“You know, everything you ever did, no matter how fucked up it was, I was always able to see the good man behind it. The good intentions. I have always found a way to forgive you.”

Bruce can see the rage shaking through him, can see the tears that have gathered in his eyes.

“But you laughed,” Dick says, voice wavering. “And I can’t find a good man behind that.”


End file.
